Hands on with the New Motion Sensor

[robmac 173]

As I am lucky enough to get my hands on a couple of these, I thought I would post my first impressions of using the sensors with HC2.

First impressions

As always with Fibaro the quality of the mouldings is first class. The surfaces on mine are perfect. The back of the unit fits snugly, locking in place with a twist. Inside is a high quality 3v branded lithium battery and the set-up button.

The sensing window is neatly mounted and the joints are almost invisible.

The unit fits neatly into the bracket with enough grip to allow the sensor to point in any direction. The bracket can be mounted using a screw but for testing I used double sided tape. This worked fine as the unit is not heavy. I have also balanced them on the small flat on the base of the bracket in various locations so you could just stand them on a surface.

To get an idea of the size, they are just bigger than a table tennis ball so smaller than any other sensor I have seen. My wife did not notice the one I mounted in the hall for a few days so no problem if you want them not to be intrusive.

For those that like a little bit of bling, the colour options of the led are fun and yes it really does look like a cat's eye when lit.

The rumour mill has been out in force so:

Suitability for external use. I can confirm there is no seal so exposure to water is probably not a good idea in standard form. I am sure the units could be sealed if you wanted as the joints are tight but they are not sealed out of the box.

There is no built in connector for a low voltage supply.

Install

On HC2 3.590 the install was simple and both sensors were up and running inside 5 minutes.

The units are displayed as 3 devices

• 1) Movement sensor
  2) Temperature Sensor
  3) Light Sensor

The movement sensor has a nice image of the unit as the standard icon but all of the icons can be changed.

There are more parameters and settings than you would believe and while I have tested them I now have most set back to default.

The only ones I have set are:

Parameter 40

This governs the change in light needed for the unit to send a report. I have found that the setting needed is very sensitive to location and proximity to windows. If mounted in a dark top corner, I have found a very low value is needed to get reports but if you use the same value near a window you get reports every few seconds.

Parameter 66

Allows you to enter an offset to the temperature reading. The actual readings on mine are very accurate but if you mount in a top corner, it is nice to offset for the temperature at head height.

You may want to play with parameter 40 straight away otherwise you will think the light sensor is not working.

I have played with association and lua scenes and the unit triggers the associated devices and scenes perfectly. Lots of options to get the result you want.

I have had the units on test and only had one issue. One of the units lost the settings and the motion sensor became another type of sensor. I removed and re-added and I have not had the issue since. Apparently this is a known bug but clearly it is not an everyday event.

Those that know my posts will know that I call a spade a spade so when I say I think these are great and I love them you know Fibaro have created something good.

I will be ordering a few of these tiny gems when they are in stock.

[Brick 13]

Thanks a lot for the review, Rob.

It seems that this device might solve some of the issues detected in the AEON 4-1 sensor.

I specially like the idea of triggering the lux report based on changes in light value, instead of having a fix time between reports.

I guess that the reported lux value is also visible in the mobile app, isn't it? (HC2 software stopped reporting the AEON lux to the app some releases ago).

What about false alams/motion breaches? Did you detect any?

[stevenvd 51]

hello Robmac,

is there any sign of being able to trigger different scenes or SceneActivation Id's by the movement direction? or do you have to use multiple sensors for this?

[Guest Lode]

Some screenshots UI and sensor ?

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[robmac 173]

hello Robmac,

is there any sign of being able to trigger different scenes or SceneActivation Id's by the movement direction? or do you have to use multiple sensors for this?

We have a tradition in the UK of practical jokes on April the 1st. I thought that was Fibaro's attempt

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No nothing on current firmware that I have found. Sure you could do it with a couple and LUA but nothing that is like the marketing dream. I think it may be in the class of the FB0005 Wine Waiter ... it is in the future.

I can not see how it would work from a single as you would need something like an MS Kinetic and this just does not have the size you would need to space the sensors but I wait to be proved wrong.

You definitely can use it as an earthquake detector though.

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[ Added: 2014-04-03, 21:51 ]

Thanks a lot for the review, Rob.

It seems that this device might solve some of the issues detected in the AEON 4-1 sensor.

I specially like the idea of triggering the lux report based on changes in light value, instead of having a fix time between reports.

I guess that the reported lux value is also visible in the mobile app, isn't it? (HC2 software stopped reporting the AEON lux to the app some releases ago).

What about false alams/motion breaches? Did you detect any?

I have never invested in the AEON so can't compare.

Thanks for reminding me, the LUX is not shown in the android app but movement and temperature are. I am not an iPad user yet so have not tested that though I will be able to test from tomorrow.

I played with the sensitivity to see if I could stop my dog from triggering. No luck but he is a big dog and triggers pet safe alarm sensors so no surprise and it may be possible for other dogs.

I had no false alarms. I also had no missed alarms when I found the correct place for the sensor. This is where I liked the small size as it gave a lot of options that you would not consider with a bigger unit.

You can achieve some odd results with the parameters so that you can make it not sense very well or trigger very easily so the parameters are useful and dangerous.

[topolino 0]

Thanks for this review, Robmac. It makes me want to order some. But before I do, how would you characterize the responsiveness of the sensors? Do they trigger motion fast enough, and is there an issue of insensitivity periods causing it to not report motion as reported elsewhere on this forum? And how about battery drain if the sensor is not allowed to take these naps?

[robmac 173]

Some screenshots UI and sensor ?

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The sensor looks like the pictures on fibaro site

[ Added: 2014-04-03, 22:41 ]

Thanks for this review, Robmac. It makes me want to order some. But before I do, how would you characterize the responsiveness of the sensors? Do they trigger motion fast enough, and is there an issue of insensitivity periods causing it to not report motion as reported elsewhere on this forum? And how about battery drain if the sensor is not allowed to take these naps?

I have had the one in the hall triggering the lights and it has been fine triggering in a second or so. My dog does not like it though. It makes him jump.

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As I said many parameters and you can make them behave very strangely.Fibaro do warn that battery life would be impacted but I have not managed to drain the batteries and I used to have real issues with Horstman and Danfoss devices. DC power would have been nice but I have not had any issue with the battery.

From the parameter page

Parameter 2Time for which the PIR sensor is ˝blind˝ to the movement. This parameter specifies the minimum time after which the PIR sensor is ready to detect next move. The longer this time is, the greater battery life is. The value can be reduced if rapid detection of movement by the PIR sensor is essential. Time of inertia should be less than the time set in parameter 6.

Value range: 0-15

The time is calculated from the formula: time = 0.5 x (value of 1)

Default: 15 (8 seconds).

and

Parameter 4˝WINDOW TIME˝ OF THE PIR SENSOR

This parameter specifies the time period, in which a certain number of movements (parameter 3) have to occur, so that the sensor detects motion. Theoretically, the higher value of this parameter makes the PIR sensor more sensitive. It is not recommended to modify this parameter.

and

Parameter 6The motion alarm will be cancelled in the controller and associated devices after the time specified in this parameter.

Each motion detected when Fibaro Motion Sensor is in sustain mode extends that time and restarts the counter. For small values, especially less than 10 seconds, parameter 2 should be adjusted (˝Blind Time˝ of the PIR sensor).

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[Rami 0]

Sensor is looking great , ordered mine and waiting till they ship to Egypt , It'll be way better than my day and night scenes .

[Lauri 6]

Just for the record - motion sensor icon have been available for a long time now. I have changed this for my current motion detectors already.

[stevenvd 51]

Robmac,

Thanks. Well what one of the engineers said was that the sensors would contain a matrix of PIR modules. in that way by calculating the time you could measure the direction of movement and also the shape of an object...

But maybe it's more marketing again and just a simple PIR with a high sensitivity

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Than we will just have to make a briliant Plugin where you can set all your sensors. and then use that for the walking directions...

[Brick 13]

I have had the one in the hall triggering the lights and it has been fine triggering in a second or so. My dog does not like it though. It makes him jump.

Is the PIR's cat eye that real?

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[robmac 173]

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[ Added: 2014-04-05, 06:54 ]

I guess that the reported lux value is also visible in the mobile app, isn't it

iPad yes it is shown

[martijnt 3]

This is a very nice review - but it is missing some crucial information about actual use in real life. For example - have you tried to actually SET the parameter 66 you refer to? If so, what trick did you have to use to set that parameter to for example a value of -0.4 degrees Celsius?

And about the accuracy of the temperature readings - have you tried positioning two or more of these in a row? And have you noticed how they will all give you different temperature readings?!

I agree that this is one smart looking piece of equipment - but I would not go as far as to say that these things are great. They're not. The variances in readings between devices when put in a row in the same environment are just poor. That is a clear indication of complete lack of calibration on these things. That combined with no EASY way to adjust the readings to me equals a bad product.

[scorpuk 1]

I have got two sensors outside. One at front of house and one at rear.

They sit under the eaves of the house, so are slightly protected from the elements.

The rear one is set to switch on the outside light on movement, (Also has a timer variable to determine optimum time range it works), and to switch off if no movement for 5 minutes.

The front one does nothing yet as I need to increase the depth of the pattress box of the switch that controls the outside light. Not a job I'm looking forward to. (Damn house has 16mm pattress boxes all round, apart from 1 or 2

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Only problem I have had so far is the usual loss of movement sensing in one; changes to 0°C or 1°C. Not got around to resetting it.

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